


Summertime Blues

by morethanwords



Series: klaine summer challenge 2017 [7]
Category: Glee
Genre: Coffee Shop, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 09:56:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11483958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morethanwords/pseuds/morethanwords
Summary: Another coffee shop fic. Kurt’s reluctantly working though the summer. Lucky he likes his boss!





	Summertime Blues

**Author's Note:**

> belatedly coming to the conclusion that
> 
> a) all my fics are basically the same story
> 
> b) I'm incapable of writing a drabble

Kurt was angry. His emotions were bubbling under his skin.. creating an itch that couldn’t be scratched, but Kurt didn’t have it in him to keep himself completely under control. He felt like an exploding time bomb. 

He’d been lucky when he came to college here in Chicago. Finding a job had been a necessity and he’d found the perfect job, in the coolest coffee shop in town (aptly called ‘The Cool Bean’) and he also had the coolest boss anyone could wish for. Mr Anderson was always so kind to him, bending over backwards to accommodate his complicated college schedule.. and as long as Kurt kept him informed, was happy to be pretty flexible. As well as that, he was also pretty easy on the eye. 

Even so, Kurt really wished he could be going home for the summer like so many of his friends, but there was just no way Kurt could afford to give up his job. It was going to be lonely with most of his friends leaving town, but not only was the chance of finding work back in Lima virtually impossible, but Mr Anderson had offered Kurt extra hours for the long holiday. Unfortunately Kurt needed the money, so he had no choice but to take all the work he could get.

Kurt always knew his family wasn’t affluent enough for him not to have to work his way through college, but he really hadn’t expected things to be this hard. Just living and essential college expenses ate their way through his bank account at an alarming rate.

He badly missed his father.. and also Carole and Finn, but there was no chance of him being able to get home to see them. It was becoming harder and harder to remain positive. One day, after a tearful phone conversation with his father, Kurt left his apartment, now devoid of his roommates and set off for work… not in the best frame of mind.

********

‘The Cool Bean’ was buzzing with workers and tourists alike when Kurt arrived for his double shift.. and today, he hated every single one of them. In direct contrast to Blaine’s friendly smile and easy banter, Kurt offered the customers a snarl and snappy answers to their questions. He could feel, if not see, Blaine’s disappointment in him… but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

As soon as things quietened down, Blaine let one of the other workers take over his coffee station, heading into his office. “In my office Kurt,” he told him, without even looking in his direction.

Kurt’s stomach turned over as he thought about refusing.. but thinking better of it. 

“Sit down Kurt,” Blaine said as Kurt entered the room… his eyes hard and unforgiving.

“No,” Kurt pouted, folding his arms across his chest. He’d grown to adore Blaine in the months that he’d known him and the fact he’d upset him like this made him feel as angry with himself as he did about everything else. He was a mess.

For the first time ever, Blaine raised his voice at Kurt. “Sit down!”

Kurt sat immediately, mainly from shock. “You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do,” he mumbled.

“And yet here you are, sitting down..” Blaine smirked, the familiar twinkle in his eye.

Kurt stared at his lap, biting his lip.

“I just want to know what’s wrong,” Blaine said softly. “I like to think we’re friends. I just want to help.”

“I know,” Kurt whispered, still unable to look Blaine in the eye. 

“I’d like you to take a time out,” Blaine said standing from his chair and placing a bottle of water in Kurt’s reach. “I just need to make sure everything’s okay out front and then we’re going to talk.”

There wasn’t much room for argument, so Kurt just nodded in agreement. 

**********

Kurt’s eyes were a little red rimmed when Blaine returned 30 minutes later, but despite feeling a little more compliant there was still an element of fury simmering under his skin. He was lucky to have Blaine in his corner when he was so far from home, but he just wanted to go home to Lima… the town he’d fought so hard to escape from. He could barely understand it himself.

Blaine obviously saw the defiance still in his eyes because he was kindly firm. “Okay, the shop’s under control. Come and help me make dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“I have an ulterior motive. I know you’re a better cook than me.”

“If I have to,” Kurt commented, making out to be a lot more put out than he was. His favourite times at work were always when it was just he and Blaine, so this was hardly a hardship. He trailed after Blaine up the staircase to his apartment above the coffee shop.

“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Blaine told him. “Have a rummage in the fridge and see what you can find.”

Kurt chose to do just that in favour of imagining Blaine in the shower. His eyes boggling at the well stocked fridge.. a contrast to the meagre ingredients he had in his own student fridge. Even as a young boy, Kurt had always found cooking quite therapeutic and by the time Blaine returned from his shower, a delicious pasta sauce was well on the way to being ready.

When they’d finally talked, it turned out that he didn’t really have to explain to Blaine what was wrong, as super mind-reading Blaine Anderson had already known… and understood. Blaine had spent lonely holidays away from his family when he was at college too, not for the same reasons as Kurt.. but he really did understand what Kurt was going through.

********

As the weeks passed, Kurt worked a lot. Eating dinner with Blaine on days he was feeling especially sad… each time falling a little more in love. Kurt couldn’t help ‘that’ anymore than he could help all the other emotions swirling round in his body, but he tried to go with it.. enjoy the way his heart thumped a little harder and his stomach would flutter when Blaine was near.

With only three weeks to go until college was resuming.. and only 2 weeks until his roommates were going to be trickling back, Kurt got sick. He had been working a lot, trying to save as a financial buffer for when he was busy… and he’d probably not been eating that well either when he’d been on his own.. and he’d never been a good sleeper, but it was even worse when his apartment was eerily quiet. It was a disaster waiting to happen. He fought through it for a few days, eventually collapsing at work.. too weak and dizzy to stand on his feet any longer.

When he came round, Kurt found himself tucked up in bed in Blaine’s guest bedroom, with strict instructions not to move. He’d tried to argue, but had been too weak to truly make a good case.

“Only ‘you’ would argue when you’re too ill to even stand up,” Blaine chuckled.. as Kurt drifted back off to sleep. Over the next few days Kurt slept a lot, being cared for by Blaine. Kurt guessed he must be working, but coming up regularly to ply Kurt with chicken soup, medication.. and just generally mop his brow. Eventually, by the afternoon of the third day, when Kurt had managed to sit up to watch television for at least an hour, he’d been deemed well enough to get himself up for a shower. 

It had been bliss to wash away the grime of the last few days.. but he was exhausted enough after, to have to head straight back to his freshly made bed for another long nap. Later, he sat on the couch watching mindless television.. and when he was feeling tired again he was allowed to cuddle into Blaine’s side, resting his head on Blaine’s shoulder, tucked firmly under his arm. If Kurt played on it a bit, he wasn’t telling anyone.

*******

Eventually Kurt felt well enough to put in a few short shifts in the shop. He knew Blaine would have preferred him to stay home and get completely well.. and paid him anyway, but Kurt had his pride.. and somehow Blaine also understood that. So he let him work under his watchful eye, insisting that Kurt stayed with him at his apartment until school restarted, in return for letting him work. It had been a long time since anyone had cared about Kurt this much, a long time since Kurt had allowed anyone to care about him this much… but he appreciated the gesture… and didn’t argue the point as he may normally have done.

Kurt returned to his own apartment ready to start the new semester in full health.. with a new coffee shop work schedule tucked under his arm and a small food parcel to keep him going for a day or two. 

********

The new college semester was already proving challenging, full on from the outset… and on top of that Kurt was missing the time he’d spent with Blaine. In the short time he’d stayed in Blaine’s apartment, they’d rubbed along together pretty smoothly, Blaine so easy to get along with. The three girls Kurt shared his own apartment with were a complete contrast. Not only did they argue constantly with each other.. and Kurt, but they also disturbed his sleep constantly, one of them even doing her singing practice at five o’clock in the morning.

Kurt missed the calm and tranquility. But not just that. He’d also got used to having Blaine around. He didn’t think he was assuming too much in saying that he thought Blaine had enjoyed having ‘him’ around too. 

Friday evening he packed his overnight bag and left his three squabbling roommates arguing over who was going to cook their dinner first.. the sound still ringing in his ears, hoping that when Blaine had told him he was welcome back any time.. he actually meant it. 

Blaine answered his door looking adorably sexy, fresh from the shower… damp curls framing his face.. soft, comfortable sweats and t-shirt adorning his body.. and Kurt almost forgot how to breathe. “I missed you,” was all he could think of to say. His overnight bag hitting the floor as Blaine gathered him into his arms… and everything felt right in the world.

“I loved having you around,” Blaine admitted, keeping him close.

Kurt’s heart so full. “Can I stay tonight?” he whispered.

“Stay as long as you like.”

Kurt felt at home as they boiled water for tea in the kitchen. It had already become a familiar routine. Kurt leaned with his back against the kitchen counter. “I’m in love with you,” he told Blaine, his face flushed. 

Blaine froze mid action, then sighed. “I love you too Kurt. As if it wasn’t already obvious.” He laughed a little depreciatingly.

“Then please. Blaine. Can we?” Kurt begged. “Please Blaine?”

“You’re young… so young.”

“Actually not that young. And we’re perfect together.. we go well together, don’t we? Can we at least try?”

Blaine pressed his lips together. “Okay,” he said eventually, “but if you want me to stop at anytime, tell me.. because I want you so much Kurt.”

*******

They’d kissed for a long, long time before Blaine took Kurt to his bed. Careful hands stripped Kurt… reverently worshipping his body. Blaine was still taking care of him even now. Blaine’s name becoming a mantra on his lips.. as hands touched him where he needed it the most.

Blaine stripped off his own clothes. “Tell me if you want me to stop,” Blaine told Kurt, taking Kurt’s face between his hands. “You’re so gorgeous… “

“Don’t stop Blaine.”

*******

It hadn’t been Kurt’s first time, but it had been the first time he’d been in love.. the first time he’d truly let himself go. Being in love.. and being loved in return was a wonderful feeling. 

All in all it had turned out to be an amazing summer.


End file.
